IF25 Post 4: Is the fake news the real news?

Culture jamming is a new term to me, introduced to me a few days ago when I read Chapter 14 in the Media and Society textbook. What is not new to me is the purpose of culture jamming; I grew up on satirical, political based television shows (thanks Dad!) so the idea of resisting the messages of the mainstream media and retaliating with parodies and other propaganda is one I am familiar with.

Satire is defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as “a way of using humor to show that someone or something is foolish, weak, bad, etc.” and is the main technique used in delivering subversive messages on shows like The Colbert Report and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. I liken it to a more professional and adult way of being sarcastic in order to make a point: the message is there! Like I said, I grew up on these shows; I was watching The Rick Mercer Report before I could even wrap my head around my own attitude let alone someone else’s. O’Shaughnessy and Stadler wrote “It is the form of communication, as well as the content of individual messages, that makes culture jamming subversive.” (p.216). Indeed the messages delivered by these shows are quite subversive!

My answer to the question “would it be legitimate to suggest that satirical news reporting is a mainstream form of culture jamming?” is a biased one based, of course, on my past experiences: yes, satirical news reporting is indeed a mainstream form of culture jamming. What better way to make a point than to use what the mass media says and does against them? The whole purpose of using humor in those shows, being satirical etc., is to keep the audience entertained. The Colbert Report, The Daily Show, The Rick Mercer Report, etc. all manage to pull in viewers because they keep their viewers in good spirit: fired up but still laughing. I was able to learn more about the political goings-on of the world by listening to Jon Stewart go on and on every night than I ever was by reading the articles and books assigned to me by my teachers. Watching those shows kept me interested by making me laugh but also making me curious enough to ask questions. When I was much younger I looked to my Dad for clarification, now I go online to credible sources to answer my questions; effectively I ought to be crediting those shows for making me dig deeper.

Like the textbook says, satire is a form of culture jamming that can “be used simply to be clever or funny, without a political or critical motive.” (O’Shaughnessy, M., & Stadler, J., p.214) Some shows, Saturday Night Live for example, use satire as an avenue for a more direct approach to humour (direct in that it lacks an underlying motive) and don’t always expect their readers to think much further than that. When it comes to culture jamming and politically satirical comedies, I do believe the aforementioned political based satirical news shows to be a useful addition to the public sphere. These shows allow people to ask questions about the mainstream/mass media and the messages they deliver; a very good asset in today’s day and age. 

O’Shaughnessy, M., & Stadler, J.. (2012). Media and Society. 5^th Ed. South Melbourne, Oxford University Press.